Hey, survivors!
I planned to release the update sooner, but I ended up adding some truly major changes — so it took about twice as long as usual. The highlight is a full‑fledged dungeon, plus a lot of improvements across the game, including many based on player feedback. Almost three days were spent on testing and final tweaks. In my opinion, the result is solid — I hope you’ll enjoy it too!
The developer standing in the city bar will stay with you until the end of the month so you can get exclusive weapons in exchange for cards.
⚠️ Please note: because this update includes a lot of new content and mechanics, there might be some new bugs. Please be sure to report any issues you find — your feedback is absolutely critical.
CHEMISTS: Dead Zone now features a dungeon system, and the first implemented dungeon is “Bandits’ Warehouse”. This is a serious test of your skills, where you’ll have to rely only on yourself.
Core rules for running the dungeon:
Saves are disabled while you’re inside the dungeon — mistakes will have to be corrected in combat.
The dungeon can be completed again every 30 minutes after killing the boss.
Crates and loot:
A new crate type, unique to the dungeon, has been added. These crates have an increased chance to drop event cards — even if there’s no active card‑collection event.
Dungeon difficulty directly affects the drop chance of rare items: the higher the difficulty, the more valuable the loot.
Difficulty and balance:
Difficulty changes enemy stats:
weapon fire rate, strength, health, and damage;
presence of shields and bullet resistance.
Additionally, difficulty adjusts key mechanics:
boss movement speed (lower on higher difficulties to make the fight more tactical);
enemy spawn rate (slower on higher difficulties so you have time to clear waves).
Rewards:
From the “Bandits’ Warehouse” boss:
scopes, grenades, a key, and clothing mods (MOD1).
From the boss’s crate:
key “0707”;
rare components and resources;
artifacts (3 types, 3 rarity tiers);
weapon parts and spare components;
exclusive armor: bulletproof vest, belt, jacket, pants, helmet.
Regular enemies drop new rare loot that’s unique to this dungeon.
Module and artifact system. We’ve added slots for equipment modifications — modules and artifacts can now be placed in various clothing categories. This affects all top‑tier items: purchased, event, and donor gear. We’re actively preparing for the introduction of ways to acquire, buy, and craft armor modifiers.
New point of interest: “The Crossing” near the Bandits’ Warehouses.
Updated NPC markers on the map. Markers now include a trade icon (a coin) and are displayed in the foreground so you can easily see the character’s name.
In‑game time in the fishing UI. Now you can track the best times for fishing.
New items at Nika’s Clinic #14. We’ve added 5.45×39 PS ammo to the shop inventory — available in batches of 1,000 rounds.
A new artifact, “Thorn”, has been added: three variants can be found in the dungeon, and a separate version is available on the open map.
Wolf sounds. Wolves now make distinct sounds when they appear.
Trade window: buy/sell rates. We’ve added current buy and sell rates for each trader so you can instantly see who offers the best prices.
A durability module has been added to equipment — the change applies to all clothing items. As an item wears down, its additional armor is lost and can only be restored after repair. The base armor, however, remains unchanged.
Reduced wear and heat buildup for the AKS‑74U by 50 %.
Reduced heat buildup for the AS‑VAL by 50 %.
To prevent players from being attacked immediately after spawning, enemy (bot) spawners near the player’s spawn point now activate with a delay: if the player is within a 100‑meter radius of a spawner, it will only start working after 2 minutes.
Plant visuals updated. We’ve changed the design and size of plants in the world.
Updated the marker design above enemies.
Food and water indicators are now always visible.
Reputation‑based hostility. Enemies will treat you as a foe if your reputation is below zero.
Increased artifact drop chance from toxic anomalies. Now the chance depends on the Luck stat.
Basic gear available without reputation. All basic items of a single type can now be bought from the equipment vendor without any reputation requirements — this will help new players get geared up faster.
Improved bridge between the Farm and Bandits’ Warehouse.
Minor tweaks to the global map.
Personal storage marker range increased to 30 meters. Now you’ll see the marker earlier and know when you’re close to a place where you can store items.
Map transparency in vehicles. The map is now more visible thanks to a black background.
Shield (additional armor) balance. Damage to shields on equipment has been reduced by 10×. Shields also behave differently at higher difficulties:
difficulty 4 — shield wear rate is 50 %;
difficulty 5 — shield wear rate is 25 %.
This means that on “Chemist” difficulty, shields on clothing will degrade roughly 8× slower than before. You can now tackle tough dungeons without constantly swapping gear.
Fixed a bug causing enemies to respawn near the player after a game load.
Fixed the jittering issue with corpses after a stealth knife kill.
Removed the delay when enemies fall after dying — they now collapse immediately.
Improved English translations for quests and UI elements using AI assistance. Please check the quest descriptions and menu items and let us know if the quality is better; if so, I’ll continue refining translations for other languages.
Removed the “squelching” sound when driving a vehicle on wet surfaces.
After an enemy dies from a knife attack, their collision no longer blocks the player.
Thanks for playing and helping us make CHEMISTS: Dead Zone better! If you spot any new bugs, odd behaviors, or have ideas for improvements, please share them in the discussions. Together we’ll make the game even greater!
If you want to express something to me personally, don’t be shy – come to Discord.